In some respects,
running MI5 is a good deal easier than it once was. Al-Qaeda has triggered
a huge boost in co-operation between western intelligence agencies. MI5
works closely with the French secret services, which have provided information
about north African suspects living in the UK...There remains a gulf in
cultures between MI5 and US counter-terrorism methods. MI5 prides itself
on being able to gain co-operation from Muslims in building up networks
of informers and agents. "The Americans tend to take a somewhat more
aggressive and bullying approach in the field" says one officer. "We
feel you can get a lot more information out of contacts if you use gentler
methods."

Financial
Times, 11 January 2003, feature on Eliza Manningham-Buller, recently appointed
MI5 DG, by James Blitz and Jimmy Burns

From the beginning,
senior officers privately recognised there would be 'collateral damage'
- petty criminals or even innocent individuals temporarily detained in the
police trawls. But they decided it was a price worth paying, even if it
caused outrage among civil liberties groups and within the immigrant communities
themselves. To match a velvet glove to the iron fist, cash from the anti-terrorism
budget was poured into outreach projects centred around British mosques
aimed at winning hearts and minds".

The
Observer, 12 January 2003, feature by Jason Burke and Martin Bright

Human Rights in jeopardy

Legislation

Prior to September 11, the Terrorism Act 2000 conferred the Home Secretary
with powers to ‘proscribe’ organisations ‘concerned with terrorism’
in the UK or abroad and it also provided government with legislative powers
to seize funds and property implicated in terrorist or suspected terrorist activities.
The traditional principle of the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty
was overturned.

The application of this Act has been largely one-sided. For example these were
the 21 organisations proscribed In November 2001 by the then Home Secretary
Jack Straw: Al-Qa'ida, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al-Gama'at al-Islamiya, the
Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), Babbar
Khalsa, the International Sikh Youth Federation, Harakat Mujahideen, Jaish e
Mohammed, Lashkar e Tayyaba, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Hitzballah
External Security Organisation, Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades, the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad -Shaqaqi, the Abu Nidal Organisation, the Islamic Army of Aden,
Mujaheddin e Khalq, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Revolutionary Peoples'
Liberation Party (DHKC-P), ETA and the November 17 Revolutionary Organisation.

The sole institution whose funds have been seized by the Treasury has been
the Benevolence International Foundation, in November 2002.

As Helena
Kennedy pointed out in her Hamlyn lecture last month [November 2002], the
protection of civil liberties seems a faraway, theoretical concern when
compared with the real anguish of tangible victims of terrorist attack.
But, as Kennedy went on to show in her powerful address, the rule of law
is not worth having when it becomes little more than a cipher for emotional
excess…..We have already had anti-terrorism legislation in both 2000
and 2001, and more of the same may be just around the corner. In today's
climate, ruled by the politics of the latest atrocity, fair play for all
suspects, much less for "terrorist" suspects, is not a rallying
cry likely to fall often on sympathetic ears. That is no excuse for not
shouting. Rather than allow the murderous anarchy of al-Qaida to continue
to set the agenda, it is time for defenders of due process, civil liberties
and the rule of law to take to the moral high ground.

Conor
Geart, Professor of human rights law at the London School of Economicshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/law/story/0,3605,852461,00.html

In November 2001 Home Secretary David Blunkett obtained parliamentary approval
for the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, conferring
the state with powers to detain indefinitely suspected terrorists. Because this
clashed with the European convention on human rights that prevents the indefinite
detention of suspected terrorists, Blunkett also presented before parliament
and the European court of human rights in Strasbourg a "designated derogation
order", which was an official declaration that the events of September
11 and Britain's involvement in the war in Afghanistan meant that there was
a "threat to the life of the nation" that justified such emergency
measures. The 2001 Act also allowed the government to apply it retrospectively
– so including persons in the UK awaiting a decision on their asylum application.
The law does not apply to UK citizens.

Islamism is
an extremely diverse movement in which I would include militant extremists
such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation as well as groups and individuals
who wish for peaceful, democratic reform and would condemn terrorism in
all its forms. There are Islamist opposition groups in all parts of the
Arab and Muslim world, many of which are persecuted by the ruling government.
Many Islamists therefore flee to Western countries as refugees.

Precisely because of this diversity and a general ignorance about Islam
in the West, it has been all too easy for the police and security services
to lump together genuine political dissidents and, in some cases, merely
ordinary Muslims with individuals most people would regard as terrorists.
Since the events of September 11, this confusion has increased as Western
security agencies have become more dependent on intelligence from countries
within the Arab and wider Muslim world, who have used the occasion to
target dissident members of their domestic Islamist movements who have
found refuge in the West.

Amnesty International considers that the application of Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) amounts to a perversion of justice. The organization believes that the emergency provisions of the ATCSA are inconsistent with international human rights law and standards, including treaty provisions by which the United Kingdom (UK) is bound.

In December and January 2002 eleven Muslims were arrested in London and Leicester.
Detainees, who were not charged, were incarcerated in the London high security
prison, Belmarsh. They were locked up for 22 hours a day and did not see daylight.
On detention they were given access neither to lawyers nor to their families.
They were unable to speak to families without the presence of an approved translator
visiting once a week. They were denied prayer facilities apart from 15 minutes
on a Friday but in the absence of an iman. Gareth Peirce, a solicitor who represents
several of them, stated that "these men have been buried alive in concrete
coffins and have been told the legislation provides for their detention for
life without trial".

John Wadham, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: "Is there such
an imminent and extreme national emergency as to justify locking people up without
charge or trial, not for anything they have done but for something someone thinks
they might do? The Home Office says there is, but it refuses to tell either
the people it is imprisoning or the general public why."

The conclusion must be that the Home Office is acting on the basis of unverifiable
information compiled by the security services, very likely obtained from overseas
governments keen to crush dissenters. The human cost has been high. Some are
taking anti-depressants and two have been classed as a suicide risk. Two have
become fathers while in prison and have yet to see their new children. Two detainees
have now received compensation from the Metropolitan police for wrongful arrest
and false imprisonment.

MI5 and Special Branch officers have visited the homes of over 30 British Muslims
since May (2002).

These ‘fishing’ expeditions are part of a new strategy to collect
information on possible terrorists. No one was arrested. The Home Secretary
David Blunkett has apologised to the Muslims interviewed by the MI5. In a letter,
dated August 16, to a Muslim organization seen by The Muslim News, he said:
“I am sorry that anyone interviewed was distressed by the experience.”

“We felt intimidated. They alleged that our names and addresses were
found in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan,” one Muslim from Blackburn
said. Most of those visited preferred not to be identified. Some of the cities
where British Muslims have being approached include Blackburn, Birmingham, Bolton,
Leicester, London and Manchester. Many visited are Imams of Indian origin, trained
in the UK.

All the Muslims said they cooperated with the security services and answered
their questions. Some of them said they reluctantly agreed to talk to the Special
Branch as they were “too frightened” to say ‘no’ as
they were not aware of their rights and thought that “if we had refused
to talk to them, they would have suspected that we had something to hide,”
one told The Muslim News.

Typically conversations began: “We saw your names somewhere in Afghanistan.”
Others were told: “We saw your names in the Tora Bora caves.” A
further variation was: “We saw your names around Afghanistan”. The
next question usually asked was: “Is there any reason why your names should
be there? Do you have any relations with the Taliban? Are you supporting al-Qaida?
Are you funding al-Qaida? Do you know anyone who has gone to Afghanistan and
returned?” Some were asked whether they had knowledge of any organisations
operating in Pakistan or if they met Imams who came from Pakistan before they
were proscribed by then Home Secretary Jack Straw.

The majority of those interviewed were from India. They were also asked whether
they knew various personalities like Usama bin Ladin, Mufti Jamil Ahmed of Khatme
Nabuwwat and Maulana Masood Azhar (who was released by India after hijacking
of a plane and is now in Pakistan). One of the MI5 agents asked if suspects
belonged to the Deobandi school of thought. Others asked: “Do you have
any feelings for the people in Afghanistan.”

All denied any knowledge of these issues. One said he told the police that
he had feelings for the people in Afghanistan but that “did not mean that
I belong to any of the groups there.” They also denied that they had given
any money to the groups in Afghanistan. One said that the reason why they may
have their names was because many Muslims had subscribed to a magazine published
in Afghanistan some 5 years ago. Many Special Branch officers said they would
return to question them further.

Some of the Muslims said they were “frightened”, “felt intimidated”,
“worried” and could not understand the need for such intense questioning.
Some denied they felt concerned but said they felt “harassed” by
the police “fishing for information”. One was angry as his parents
opened the door for the officers. “My parents were shocked and surprised.
For many days the atmosphere at home was tense, my parents and family were in
shock. I was not bothered as I know I have nothing to hide.” All were
alarmed and surprised at the detailed information they had on them – their
names, addresses, which mosque they frequented. Some said the police knew who
they met in the mosques, showing that some Muslims in mosques were working for
the intelligence services.

One man who was willing to be identified was Leicester businessman, Khalid
Jessob, who was visited by Special Branch and a uniformed policewoman at 7 am
on August 3. “I refused to allow them into my home as they did not have
a warrant. We talked outside,” Jessob told The Muslim News. They said
some people had complained that there were people going into the house and they
wanted to know who these were. They asked him which mosques he frequented and
which Imams came to see him. “I told them, ‘if you want to question
me, you have to arrest me.’” He refused to give them his ID and
talk about his work. “Then they said, ‘You know why we are here.’
I replied, ‘No I don’t.’” They then told him that there
were a number of al-Qaida operatives in Leicester. “I replied, ‘Why
are you asking me?’”

Most have responded to the surprising visits by taking some action. Some have
written to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, the constituent MP for Blackburn, through
organisations like Lancashire Council for Mosques. Others have sent letters
directly to the Home Secretary David Blunkett. The Foreign Office refused to
discuss the issue. But the Home Office acknowledged that Blunkett had received
correspondence from various people, after being asked by The Muslim News about
the harassments, and said he was going to respond to them. The Muslim Council
of Britain separately took the issue up with the Home Office Minister Beverley
Hughes during their meeting earlier this month to discuss the police raid on
Lye mosque to apprehend an Afghan family seeking sanctuary. She pledged to investigate
the matter.

The Muslim News has learnt that Special Branch officers have also visited over
100 mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim organisations since early April. The
questions revolve around Muslim organisations and Mosque activities and the
presence of “extremists” in their midst. “The Special Branch
confided that the Reid case had taken them off guard and needed information
on extremists in mosques and Islamic institutions,” said one executive
member of a Muslim organisation in London.

“We want to know who the extremists are in the community,” another
organisation said they were asked. In latter visits, officers telephoned organisations
to make appointments to see them.

The Home Office’s first reaction was that they did not “comment
on operational matters” but later conceded visits by the Special Branch
had taken place and that the interviews were being conducted to help with the
police enquiries. “The Home Secretary has replied to those letters,”
a spokeswoman for the Home Office told The Muslim News. She added: “The
Home Secretary appreciates and shares the concerns of those interviewed and
we will do nothing to undermine good community relations. We are sorry if they
have been distressed.” She denied that they were targeted because of being
Muslim. “It is not about targeting of different faiths.” She also
denied that Muslims who collect funds for the impoverished Muslims in Afghanistan
were interviewed because of their religion even though no Christian groups have
been interviewed for collecting funds for Afghanistan.

The Home Secretary in the letter mentioned earlier, said he would consider
“suggestion of prior consultation with community leaders” but the
police would only do so “whenever they are able to do so”. A spokeswoman
for Head of Specialist Operations at the Metropolitan Police David Veness said
the visits by Special Branch were part of police inquiries, not because “we
were checking on them.” But he accepted that the Muslims “may feel
being threatened” by the Special Branch visits. She added that the issue
will be brought up during the next meeting with the Muslim leaders in September
to find “the best way to deal with this issue”.

Lancashire Constabulary insisted that their Special Branch officers accompanied
the MI5 officers as they did not wish to jeopardise relations built with the
Muslim community in Blackburn over a number years. One of the Special Branch
officers told a Muslim leader, “We were very polite. We even took our
shoes off when we entered the house. We reassured the person so that he was
not alarmed at our visit.”

At the heart
of countering terrorism is intelligence and the events of September 11th
have focused attention on intelligence work as never before….Perhaps
not surprisingly, collaboration against terrorism between intelligence and
security agencies has proved easier than political collaboration even among
allies….one of the greatest successes of the ‘war’ must
be the new co-operation between the intelligence agencies of Russia and
the West against the common enemy of terrorism.

Until very
recently the British intelligence services didn't officially talk to newspapers
at all. Certain favoured journalists who had connections to people who worked
in the services were passed information from time to time if it was thought
useful to put it in the public domain. Sometimes the stories that resulted
were true and sometimes not. In recent years, after intense pressure, MI5
and MI6 instituted a new system whereby each service has an unofficial press
officer who talks to the media. Most organisations then designate a journalist
who will deal with each service. They are then given a telephone number
and the name of the individual intelligence officer. In the case of the
Observer, I deal with MI5. Although some newspapers or individual journalists
may hold 'special relationships' with individuals within the intelligence
establishment, as far as I know, the same MI5 'press officer' deals with
all my opposite numbers on other national newspapers for everyday briefings….
Most journalists feel that, on balance, it is better to report what the
intelligence services are saying, but whenever the readers see the words
'Whitehall sources' they should have no illusions about where the information
comes from.

Martin
Bright writing in The Observer, 21 July 2001http://www.observer.co.uk/libertywatch/story/0,1373,758265,00.html

On 16-17 October 2002, the UK press gave prominence to the arrest in London
of three men of North African descent, charged under the Terrorism Act. This
was linked by the media to a terrorist threat to London. For example The Sunday
Times said MI5 had foiled a plot to release poison gas, possibly cyanide, on
the Tube during rush hour. On Monday 18 October, The Daily Mirror reported that
four stations had been targeted, Baker Street, King's Cross, Waterloo and Bank.

However according to the solicitor for one of the detainees, Ms Gareth Pearce,
there had been

“a quite extraordinary tidal wave of completely contemptuous and prejudicial
coverage of the case….This has all the hallmarks of an intentionally
planted story, published and republished, amplified and exaggerated, by a
willing and compliant press.”

The men had been arrested on 9 November, but the alleged ‘plant’
was not ‘activated’ for a week, interestingly, after a keynote speech
by the Prime Minister at the Lord Mayor’s banquet on the international
situation and justifying military action in Iraq.

[The Guardian 19 November 2002]

None of the men arrested were subsequently questioned
on their links with the Tube scare story. The case against one, Mr Karim Kadouri,
was dropped on 28 January 2003. Susan Hemming, for the prosecution, said at
Bow Street Magistrates’ Court said that he remained accused of offences
involving a fake French passport and identity card. He denied all charges and
was remanded in custody for a further three weeks.

[The Times, 28 January 2003]

Mr Kadouri appeared before Bow Street magistrates
court on 17 February, 2003 and was jailed for four months for possessing a fake
French passport. No evidence was offered suggesting he had ever used it. Mr
Kadouri has been living in the UK for the last ten years.

[The Guardian, 18 February 2003]

I was outraged
by the smallpox scare story. It was a clear repeat of the previous weekend’s
lobby story of “gas horror on London Tube”, itself an echo of
the Home Office “dirty bomb” story two weeks earlier. These
Whitehall officials are panic happy; careless of the cost and worry they
cause others. In a speech at the Mansion House last month, Tony Blair pleaded
the difficulty of drawing a line between public information and “doing
the terrorists’ job for them”. He implied that, given what MI5
had been telling him, he should close Britain. If so, he should sack MI5.
His predecessors had a far more immediate threat from the IRA. They managed.

On 17 November,
the day before an earlier hearing, the Sunday Times said they were 'a gang
of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists [which] plotted to kill commuters on the
London Underground by releasing poison gas in a crowded carriage'. David
Blunkett had 'insisted the police shut down the suspected terrorist cell
and rejected a plan to delay any arrests'.

Fleet Street scrambled
to follow up the sensational tale of the Home Secretary intervening to
save the lives of hundreds. The Independent on Sunday said the Algerians
may have been planning to place a dirty nuclear bomb 'on a ferry using
a British port'. We said they had been charged with plotting to 'release
cyanide on the London Underground', as did pretty much everyone else.
Broadcasters repeated the story.

There wasn't a word
of truth in it. The Algerians face charges of holding forged passports
for terrorist purposes. David Blunkett attempted to stop the prejudicing
of the case but only compounded the original offence. He told the Today
programme that the police 'actually picked up those who, quite separately
from any nonsense about gas attacks, actually were planning to set up
a cell to threaten our country'. The Algerians' lawyers weren't grateful.
They said Blunkett's assertion about a 'terrorist cell' was a separate,
but as serious, contempt of court. Gareth Peirce the solicitor for one
of the defendants, was stunned 'by this quite extraordinary tidal wave
of completely contemptuous and prejudicial coverage'.

The next week the
Sunday Times was adamant that what it had printed came from the most reputable
security sources. It discussed them at length and added that 'other newspapers
and broadcasters were given a "green light" from Downing Street
to follow-up the Sunday Times story'.

Born Francis Asibong Etim in South London in 1958, Sulayman Balal Zain-al-Abidin
worked for much of his life as an itinerant chef. After completing schooling
in 1974 he took a City & Guilds course in catering and also signed up as
a reserve in the Royal Green Jackets battalion from 1976-1979. He adopted Islam
in 1979, and his choice of surname, drawing on the memory of the Prophet’s
family and his great-grandson in particular is also a clue to a young man’s
journey to a new faith. This was the moment of the reassertion of Islam in Iran
and Sulayman once observed that “when I embraced Islam I was fortunate
enough, by the grace of Allah, to be in that period when Ayatullah Khomeini
was saying ‘No East, No West, Islam is the Best’ ”.

Sulayman died on 22 December 2002, and if justice is to be done, there are
many who will need to be called to the dock to answer for their vendetta against
a harmless man - the mob of Fleet Street, a police force obsessed with results,
and a Member of Parliament with an agenda.

Sulayman’s conversion to Islam coincided with a turbulent period of twentieth
century Muslim history – not only was he caught up in the tremendous excitement
of the Islamic revolution of Iran, but also the Afghan war against the Soviets,
Rushdie’s vilification, the frustration of the Iraq-Iran War, the first
Intifada, the Lockerbie plane bomb, the frustration when FIS in Algeria were
denied their electoral victory and subsequent chaos, the Kuwaiti invasion by
Iraq, and the plight of the Bosnians and then the Kosovars. Sulayman channelled
his energy and enthusiasm to the causes of the day, holding his own on the soapbox
at Speakers Corner and visiting prisons as a Muslim helper. Perhaps drawing
on his Army experience, he also provided self-defence and survival training
to Muslim youth groups. At no time did he visit Bosnia, Afghanistan, Pakistan
or Chechnya. He did visit Libya in connection with the campaign for a fair trial
of those charged as responsible for the Lockerbie crash, Palestine, as part
of a Muslim delegation, and the USA (in 1998).

In 1999 Sulayman ventured into the business world with a one-man enterprise,
Sakina Security Services. This company’s website, registered in Sulayman’s
name, offered enrolment to ‘the ultimate jehad challenge’, a course
conducted in the US. The site was one of bravado and hyperbole, referring to
the skills needed to conduct ‘high profile missions’. The website
declared support for various Muslim causes, including Chechnya and the liberation
of Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. This, and his earlier Palestine visit, led to
Sulayman being a marked man.

There followed a period of intense pressure from the Police to disclose personal
information and details of acquaintances and also serve as a potential police
witness. A police officer also stated that if he did not turn up for interview
at the Charing Cross station and was not willing to say anything then an application
would be made to the Court to commit him to prison for contempt of Court and
he would be imprisoned. Sulayman resisted and was arrested on 15 March 1999
under Prevention of Terrorism charges. His solicitors, Arani & Co, were
able to obtain legal aid for instigating proceedings. Arani & Co were further
successful in an ex-parte application for an explanation order, obtained at
Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, and Sulayman was released. However he was then
re-arrested on a conspiracy to kidnap and released on bail. Arani & Co successfully
obtained further legal aid for instigating proceedings against the police for
malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.

In August 1999 Channel 4 broadcast a sensationalist ‘Dispatches’
to “Kill or to be Killed”, to which Sulayman had unwittingly contributed.
Arani & Co were unable to pursue a restraining injunction on the TV company
because legal aid was not available. Sulayman, now in poor health from an arthritis
condition and struggling to make ends meet, was confronted by relentless forces:
on 21 September 1999, London’s Evening Standard ran a sensationalist headline
stating that a London security firm was sending Muslim fighters to Afghanistan.
Sulayman was described to as a terrorist. The Hendon MP Andrew Dismore wrote
to the police and called for his arrest.

Arani & Co immediately contacted the police on Sulayman’s behalf,
requesting police protection for him and his family. Sulayman then visited Plumstead
Police Station, where he attempted to explain that his security services were
above board, bona fide and barely profitable.

Andrew Dismore pursued the matter in Parliament, on 25 May 2000 raising a question
with the Home Secretary to establish what action would be taken “in respect
of the activities of Sakina Security Services relating to British Islamic fundamentalists
and firearms and explosives training in the United States”. Arani &
Co would show that only one person had ever enrolled on Sakina’s training
course, - a Sainsbury's security guard who traveled to a commercial bodyguard
training camp in the United States and that the web site notice offered the
same type of training course advertised by 125 different English companies.
In fact some of the site’s content had been taken - without permission
- from a US security company’s web site. Notwithstanding all this, in
the aftermath of September 11 Sulayman was arrested on 1st October 2001 charged
with providing training in guns and explosives, an offence under the Terrorism
Act 2000.

Andrew Dismore continued the pursuit of his quarry. On 16 October 2001 he observed
in Parliament that “Sakina is an Islamist security organisation with extremely
close links to al-Muhajiroun and Supporters of Sharia. Sakina sends people overseas
for jihad training with live arms and ammunition. It is hostile to the British
Government, police and security services, and regularly issues threats to British
interests in the United Kingdom and overseas. It is also particularly anti-semitic
and appears to have singled out the Jewish community as its direct adversary.
In October 2000, Sakina launched an appeal for donations to the Al Aqsa Liberation
Fund to raise money to support the Palestinian jihad….Sakina also organises
training in many different sites in the United Kingdom. However, its activities
are not limited to that. A bulletin board posted on its website a year ago today
claimed that Sakina operatives were in ‘occupied Palestine, sisterly Lebanon
and in Jordan’ ready to fight in the Palestinian jihad. Although the police
have acted, I regret that the Department of Trade and Industry has done nothing
to close the company. So far, only one Sakina associate, Sulayman Bilal Zain-ul
Abidin—also known as Frank Etim—has been arrested and charged with
offences under the Terrorism Act 2000”.

After a ten month incarceration in the Belmarsh high security prison, Sulayman
was brought to trial in the Old Bailey in August 2002. The prosecution case
was that Sakina Security Services was a front for Al-Qaida, for "the pursuit
of jihad, a holy war, against the perceived enemies of Islam". These allegations
could not be backed by evidence to convince a jury, and after four days of deliberation,
Sulayman was acquitted. Faced with financial ruin, in poor health and a house
repossessed, he planned to sue the police for unlawful arrest. He told the press,
“If you speak up for oppressed people, it means you are a terrorist. If
you give money to any Muslim charity organisations, you're funding terrorism”.
At his trial he explained Jehad as struggle in its widest sense. It is a tribute
to his character that he did not lose a sense of humour and could draw on his
Catholic upbringing to reinforce the point, “the priest used to say every
Sunday take this bread all of you and eat it - this is the body of Isa alayhissalam,
asthagfullah, and then he would say take this water and drink it - this is the
blood of Isa alayhissalam, asthagfullah. So if I was to act like they do and
take the religion out of context I'd say look at these people they are promoting
cannibalism”.

The due process of law however did not quell Andrew Dismore’s concerns,
who was reported as describing the verdict as very disappointing. FBI sources
also confirmed that they were still investigating an alleged link between Sakina
and James Ujaama, arrested in Denver, Colorado, for delivering laptop computers
to the Taliban.

Sulayman believed that the police would be carrying out a character assassination
against Muddasir Arani, his solicitor. He was on the verge of disclosing this
information to her in December 2002 when he was taken into hospital on an emergency
basis for a knee operation. A friend recounts that "Sulayman was laughing
and joking with us for the first two days after his operation. He was sitting
up in bed and said he felt fine. By the third day he seemed drowsy and his wife
became alarmed. After that he slipped in to a coma. His drug records went missing
and no one seemed to know what medication he had been given. It all sounded
very suspicious and then on Sunday he died. He never came out of his coma”.

Maddassar Arani notes that, "His wife did not want a post mortem examination
on religious grounds and because of her wishes no tests or examinations have
been carried out. She does not want her husband's body to be exhumed to try
and prove foul play or medical negligence. She has lost her husband and no amount
of legal activity and claims can bring back her husband. She did not want his
burial delayed and wants no further pain for her husband. We have to respect
her wishes. The cause of death on the certificate has been given as cardiac
arrest, organ failure, a septic knee and arthritis. His death is very suspicious.
The day before he went into hospital he said he wanted to see me about something
very important. He said he had some vital information about the anti- terrorist
squad, but did not want to discuss it over the telephone."